To Say Hello and Goodbye
by Giver of Roses
Summary: Ah what to write, what to right... Well... I can't think of anything... so just read it and let me know what you think. Oh and please review... pretty please!
1. The mystery of the vanishing door knob

A loud sigh filled the small room. In the far corner the only occupant brought a bandaged hand to his forehead. He had been in that room for months. For him this was the _worst _day in the world for him to be locked up during and so he sat there brooding trying to figure a way out and to where he needed to be. Consequently he had no idea how long he sat huddled in that pathetic corner muttering to himself- nor did he care.

After a particularly loud outburst the man visibly relaxed and smiled. Stretching lazily he leaned against the wall. there was now an odd light in this eyes as he gazed at the locked door. He raised his eyebrows and tapped his silver pocket watch. After a quick glance at the door and some more fevered watch-tapping he began to whisper aloud.

_"...60...59...58..."_

Meanwhile, outside the very door the man had been staring at in such an odd manner there was an extremely nervous woman fidgeting around. She stood there for a good thirty seconds debating wether or not she should simply open the door or leave and never return.

_"28...27...26..."_

"Hey! What are you doing, just _standing _there?"

Now another had entered the scene in front of said door. A burly man with iron knuckles and an attitude about as pleasant as pickled cow dung had spoken (or rather, shouted). You see... He was one of those people who fancy themselves 'security' but are, in reality completely useless and, to be frank, _stupid_. He had been born a Mr. Reginald Eugene Smith Jr II... But no one called them that instead he answered to 'Iron One'... (I suppose he thought the name mysterious and a real chick magnet... Although what woman would wish be with a man who called himself the 'iron one' and fervently believed that all manner of grunting was now the new English is _beyond m_e.)

"Hi Reggie!". Well, no one called him Reggie except his sister but he wasn't going to let _that _nasty little tidbit of information get around. Might ruin his reputation...

Reggie flinched and growled, "He's had enough time. Been in there for 24 hours pondering the question... So get an answer and quit stalling."

The woman pulled at her jacket sleeve a bit before looking up at Reggie and responding. She leaned toward him and whispered...

"But Reggie. He's not quite right in the head... Been shouting and banging on the walls... About six hours it got quiet. Found him muttering to his pocket watch in the corner...He's in there counting down now..."

"What's he counting down to?"

"I don't know! But its not norm-"

"Shut up and get in there" Reggie sneered, "Unless you're scared..."

"Humph... Fine" She pulled out the only key to the room and unlocked the door.

_"...4...3...2..1-" _The man smiled as the door slammed open and in stepped the woman. He jumped to his feet as soon as the door closed again. The woman took an involuntary step back, when she stepped in he had appeared to have been sleeping.

A minute later there was a loud click as the door locked automatically. The woman shuddered and turned to the door staring at the hole where the doorknob had been minutes before. She looked down at the key in her hand then back at the door. The man lifted his hand slowly trying to appear as non threatening as possible.

"Nothing to get frightened about... I won't do you any harm... Promise." He took a careful step forward and held out his hand.

"...Now if you would kindly... Give me the key..."

The woman didn't respond.

"...and _we_..." The woman flinched and took a step back while he took another step forward..."well, _I_...will go my way and... _You _will go yours...Yes?"

"It won't do you any good..." The woman whispered backing up against the door although he hadn't come any closer beyond those first two steps. She motioned the neat hole.

"...Well you see...That's where our..." The man flashed a dazzling smile..."_perceptions_... on the situation differ..." He now laughed, "...quite a bit..." he pulled out the doorknob from behind his back. The woman startled.

"How did you ge-get...But...You ne-never...le-left the corner..." She stammered eyes wide.

"The _key _please... If you would be so kind." He looked down at his watch..."I'm very late you see..." He came closer...

"You know how it is..." Another step.

"People to meet... Enemies to kill... Friends to _frighten_...Things to steal..."

The woman looked down at the key again. The man jumped forward, snatched the key and knocked her over the head all in the same movement. He winced and quickly looked over his shoulder half expecting his long dead mother to jump out and scold him.

"Begging your pardon miss..." He reached up meaning to tip his hat but his hand found only air. He hadn't had his hat for a long time. Not for long though, not long indeed.

"Old habits die hard." He muttered fixing the knob back into place. Twenty minutes later he found himself standing next to what appeared to be a pile of rubble clutching a few maps he had stolen months ago. He spread them out slowly staring for a while. He couldn't quite comprehend them, but as far as he could tell this was the right place.

He walked around the rubble and pulled out his watch.

"Finally... 60...59...58...I'm never doing this again...54...53...Too complicated coming back to life...49...48..."

Forty-eight seconds later the man vanished. Hundreds of years earlier in the same place a man shoved the previous occupant off a chair and took his place and downed a pint of rum.

He smiled. "I'm back!"


	2. The 4 peicesofeight

Another tankard hit the table and he reached for it eagerly. The barmaid pulled it away from him with a wry smile playing about her features. "Oh no you don't.", she sneered, wagging a finger in his face, "You're not getting another one 'till you pay..." Her words trailed off as she spent a few minutes counting the many empty rum bottles and tankards littered a mile-thick across the table. When she was finished she looked more then a little angry and leaned forward until she was inches from his face. "Pay up!"

More out of habit then necessity she brushed her red hair behind her ear and proceeded to rudely thrust her hand into his face. He looked down with a bemused expression at the man on the floor (who was still out cold by the way and completely oblivious to the scrutiny he was receiving) and poked him with his foot. Hearing the clinking of coins he flashed another smile at the barmaid, happy that from where she was standing she couldn't see the man sprawled on the floor, half under the table.

"A moment..." He reached down and lifted up a heavy purse of coins. He then made a great show of pouring out the coins and slowly dropping them back into the purse one by one until only four remained in his hand.

"For your trouble..." He said and flipped the coins to the barmaid. She snorted, took the coins and left.

Chuckling he reached for the new tankard of rum... and after looking inside of it he snarled... It was _empty_. Not a drop. He looked around the crowded tavern for the red-head who had cheated him... and as fate would have it she was nowhere in sight.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid... Should've seen that coming... I've been gone too long..." He muttered under his breath malevolently eyeing his silver pocket watch on the table and muttering of sea monsters, death, betrayel, and the wonders of indoor plumbing.

After he had fully exhausted the afore mentioned subjects he heaved a sigh and cast a quick glance to the man at the table _next _to him who was _**currently **_(I say currently because about five minutes ago he was the loon hopping up and down on the table yodeling loudly, A Pirate's Life For Me.), like I said, was _currently _slumped over in sleep and looking dead (and that is putting it nicely. Trust me.).

Of course, one sees things like this _all _of the time so it shouldn't come as much of a shock that it wasn't the inebriated man who caught his attention but the three full bottles of rum _surrounding _him that did. He picked up a mug and chucked it at the other man's head. No reaction. He threw another... and two more in quick succession for good measure. Eventually the drunkard realized his head was hurting and opened a lazy eye.

For a few seconds he stared blankly, until his gaze locked onto a man who was strutting past him with a platter of empty mugs. He attacked the innocent bystander (and what an extremely unfortunate bystander it was. For the man was large and very strong) and in minutes everyone in the tavern was fighting. Everyone fought, that is, _except _for the one man who had _started _it all. Who was now happened to be working on his second newly acquired bottle of rum... While keeping a wary eye out for that thieving red-head...

A block away the barmaid (by the name of Sheri) was now deep in conversation with a scrawny blond girl named Meredith.

"..._Only _four pieces..." Meredith repeated dazedly, eyes wide. "_Only _four?"

"But, but... that's the most you've ever gotten with _that _trick!"

"Do you think I don't know that!?" Sheri retorted.

Meredith's eyes widened. "Well then... What're you so upset about?"

"Humph" Sheri methodically smoothed the wrinkles out of her skirt before replying.

"_Because_... He was obviously wealthy... Clean-shaven, neat clothing--the likes of which _I've _never seen... At least... Not around _here_. Stupid good for nothing-"

"Did he have a nice smile?" Meredith piped up. Sheri blushed slightly and turned away.

"I suppose so... He was... certainly eccentric," She paused, reflecting on the man's behavior

"_Alright_...very eccentric... and cheap!" She shouted, startling a few ravens.

Meredith simply shook her head and allowed her friend to mutter on into the night. If anything, it was Sheri who was the cheep one, not the man.

"Four coins... That's all... And for _all _the rum he drank... Humph. The audacity!"

Meredith ran a thin and pallid hand through her stringy locks. "Four pieces-of-eight are a lot Sheri... A lot!" Meredith gave Sheri a dismissive wave--

"You're ill in the head..." Meredith muttered as she gradually faded away into the night leaving a fuming Sheri behind to glare at all of the helpless bystanders. After a while Sheri leaned against the wall of the alleyway and nonchalantly watched those who continued to swagger by. Mostly drunkards, and the occasional chicken with a gnarled beak or leg.

Long before the moon had begun to tower high above the buildings... Boredom had settled in... So when the oddest woman Sheri had ever seen walked past with layered foreign skirts, tattooed face, cinnamon skin, fire in her eyes, and carrying all sorts of objects, frightening and diverse... Sheri felt compelled to follow, even into the very tavern that the extremely cheap man had been in...

The woman was also carrying what had _appeared _to be a sad corpse of a monkey in a cage but had in fact _woken _up and _cackled _inimically at Sheri when she came too close. The monkey and many other oddly shaped objects the eerie woman left outside of the tavern. Even so, Sheri wasn't tempted to snoop but trailed the woman into the tavern and lurked behind a wooden beam when the woman sat across from the gentleman she had scammed earlier.

**Hello! Please review. This is NOT JxOC. I promise! I know that it comes across that way, but I assure you it is not!**


	3. Indeed

"Well Jack," The woman leaned forward as her head tilted to the side. "The watch. Did it help?"

Jack brushed off his shoulder and took a long drink before replying. ". . . I _suppose _so. . . If you call it 'help'. . ."

He frowned.

"You nearly got me killed Tia."

"Won't be the first time ye nearly died, yes?" She remarked.

"So get over it," She muttered in a low voice holding out her hand. "and give me my watch back. . ."

Jack looked as if he was about to protest.

"NO! Not a word out of you, Sparrow! Me watch. . ." She narrowed her eyes threateningly. "I need it."

"Have it then. . ."

Jack sighed as she picked up the watch and dropped it into one of the many sashes wrapped around her waist. She reclined in the chair and began to smile again.

"Ye look sober Jack. . ."

"I'm working on it." He muttered in between gulps. He was no longer watching Tia Dalma but a vertical beam feet behind her. He had seen a flash of red.

After the bottle was empty he once again resumed speaking. Only now his words were slightly slurred and Tia Dalma was much happier then she had been before. She pulled out the watch and stroked it lovingly as Jack ranted on about what he had been through over the past four months.

". . . and do you know where they put me next?" He pointed first out into the distance in no particular direction then back to himself.

". . . In an. . . Asylum. . ." his eyebrows were raised as he stared at an empty bottle. "and no rum. . . At all. . ."

Tia Dalma chuckled. "I see."

"Well Jack Sparrow. Ye hardly _look _like a pirate anymore. . . So what will ye be doing now I wonder. . ." She questioned darkly, finding the idea amusing.

Jack rocked back in his chair surveying the crowded room for familiar faces. He found one and waved, causing the unfortunate soul to nearly faint in shock. The poor man believed that he had seen a ghost. Quite amused Jack turned to look at Tia Dalma.

"What I do best. . ." He muttered. "The beard will take awhile to grow back though. . . But I'm in no hurry. . ."

"Anyway. There are advantages to being presumed dead. . ."He said watching his old acquaintance blanch and run out of the tavern. Jack stood and meandered over to a table littered with discarded rum bottles.

Tia narrowed her eyes. "Indeed."

"Touchy subject Tia?" Jack remarked as he returned with another full bottle. He had only had just enough time to grab one before having to return to the table to see Tia Dalma's reaction to his jibe. Of course his efforts were in vain so he simply shrugged and sat down perfectly content with his new found rum. Tia Dalma had left.

**I'm sorry this is so short. I will try to make the next one longer. I'm not sure if this is going anywhere so I may just remove my story from the site. Yes I know this chapter is horrible. . . But it's all that I've got right now. . . so. . . **

**Please Review! **


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